Adebola Journal 8
These events occur after Lagos Episode 18 Despite the warnings of their new “friends”, Valkriss insisted on returning home. She’d slept on enough wet ground in her life. If Karmichael wanted to find her, she’d be ready for him. She ached from head to toe, and her mind was fogged with exhaustion. She needed her own bed, her drones around her. Duante missing? She shrugged. He’d gone missing before, drunken binges. He’d return when he felt like it. Their new friends were being silly and paranoid. Karmichael was clever and dangerous, but he wasn’t all-knowing. '' ---- A sudden burst of static on her comm. jerked Valkriss from the first good night's sleep she'd had in a week. "''Ghuy'cha!" she swore in Klingon. Then she remembered: the static meant her household security had been triggered. If it was Karmichael… but he must believe that she was dead. "DavHam area boys, third DavHam-ed time this week..." She staggered to her feet and snatched her bat'leth from beside the bed. Her drones were a little, let us say, over-enthusiastic about repulsing attackers; she'd deal with this herself and prevent any future misunderstandings. This was going to be the last time one of those little brats broke into her place. She'd made the mistake of chucking old food at the first one as he fled; the story had gone round about how they could get a free meal out of her at the cost of a few bruises and now she was cursed with an infestation. She queried her security system and woke the "eyes" in the drones in her workshop. Worf's balls, it was an adult. This was much more serious, but he (he? - yes his silhouette looked male and human) wasn't carrying anything more serious than a kitchen knife or she'd eat her MAD scanner. The day that she needed her drones to repulse a burgler was the day she'd turn in her bat'leth for a cane, and wait for death. She stole down the hall, breathing deeply and slowly, stretching her legs as she moved. It had been a while since she'd used her bat'leth in earnest, and a grin stretched her lips. Today was a good day to die... for someone. She triggered the door lock on her workshop door; it was still intact. What the devil was he looking for, anyhow? Turning the knob silently, she nudged the door slightly open, when the drones informed her that his eyes were elsewhere. Kicking it aside, she flung herself into the room screeching her Klingon war cry, her bat'leth raised. The invader turned, screamed and promptly flung himself behind Valkris's largest drone, the Dalmatian she'd been working on the night before. To her astonishment, the drone twisted its upper body and aimed its grenade launcher at her. "It's me, V! Stop, it's me!" the burglar was yelling at the top of his lungs. "Du? What the devil are you doing?" "Bloody hell, V. Can you put that thing down? Kahless, you trying to give me a heart attack?" Valkriss brought up the lights in the room, glanced at her bat'leth and carefully set it on the workbench nearby. Duante slowly rose from behind the drone. He looked awful, his face pale and sweaty, his scar so red that Valkriss could hardly look away from it. She'd gotten used to it, even used to the fact that he'd never talk about it, but tonight it looked worse than usual. Duante swallowed a huge breath. "I need a favor, V. I need some place to lay low, just for a few days." Minutes later, he was settled in Valkriss' kitchen, a cup of tea clutched in his trembling hands. He stared deep into it, while his student waited impatiently for him to start. She knew him well enough to ignore the silence, rummaging for crackers and the eye-watering, bitter cheese they both loved. He took enough deep breath. "I think I slept with the wrong woman, V." Valkriss almost dropped the cheese. She couldn't stop the snort of amusement that burst from her. Duante glared furiously at her. "I'm serious, V. This isn't a laughing matter!" Valkris grinned at him. "Sure it is. You sleep with the wrong woman at least once a week, Du. What, you don't want to call her tomorrow, let her down easy? You think she's fallen for you hard and has the wedding planned? Trust me, Du. Any woman sleeping with you isn't doing it for the romance. Pity, maybe, but romance?" "I'm glad you're amusing yourself, V. I'm serious. I'm in real trouble here, and if you're not going to help me..." He pushed his chair from the table and, fists clenched, headed for the door. "Ah, Du. Du! I'm not kicking you out. Sheesh, you're sensitive tonight." Duante settled into the chair. Valkriss slumped in the chair across from him and dumped sugar into her tea. For a moment Duante's eyes crinkled, and Valkriss grinned back at him, both knowing but not saying his next line: "Have some tea with that sugar, V?" The argument was so old that they didn't even bother saying their lines anymore. "How'd you get access to the workshop, Du?" asked Valkriss suddenly. "You forgot to change the codes on your Mr. Grime, V. Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you, change the codes after every DavHam-ed time you update the autosofts. It popped the lock for me and..." He shrugged. "Your inner locks are better; it couldn't crack them. I was trying to find your hidden key so I could sleep on your couch until morning. I'm beat, V. This thing, it could be really bad." "You look awful." "Flattery, my dear ork..." He ran his hands over his face, sighing. "I met her at that little bar Murtie's set up by the harbor, you know the one?" "The devil rat's secret graveyard? Yeah, I know that one. Wouldn't eat there for a million naira." "Who would? Anyhow, I was down there with Timipre, sometime last week. Yeah, I know, you hate that guy. Doesn't matter anymore, dude ate a bomb or something yesterday." At Valkriss's gasp, he nodded. "Yeah, like I said, it's bad. He was a good guy, whether you believe it or not. He had my back, a few times when things were..." He shrugged. "Anyhow, yeah, we had a few drinks and Timipre's daring me to try to pick up someone, like I'd ever sleep with someone who hung out at that dive." Valkriss snorted again. "You hang out at that dive." "But I wouldn't sleep with me. Bad place. But I see a woman, an elf, with that deep black skin, beautiful. I think she's Fula, at least she spoke some dialect, not sure." Valkriss nodded. Duante had been in Lagos long enough to know most of the local dialects. "I go up to her and say, I can't remember what. Something about, how she was shaking up the place and she should leave before the place rattled into the harbor." He ignored Valkriss's groan. "Hey, it was funnier in Fula, after a few drinks. Anyhow, we get to talking and she brings me to her place, a room in one of those little huts that people rent out, and when I wake up, she's taken off with my naira and my clothes. So I called Timipre. Like I said, he had my back, always." Duante swallowed hard. "He came with pants, no questions asked, unlike SOME people, who don't know how to keep their opinions to themselves." Valkriss's lips twisted. "So it doesn't sound that strange. She got what she wanted, you got what you wanted, everybody's happy, right?" "Yeah, but yesterday, I get a call from Timipre, says he's got someone watching him and he's getting funny calls. Somebody asking about his white friend. In Fulani. Well, we got a history, and Timipre doesn't... didn't get jumpy for no good reason, but this stuff, how they are asking, it makes him nervous. So I say, come by my place, hide out for a few days, but I don't hear from him again and when I go by his place, it's just gone. Seriously, I've seen craters that looked better. Whoever did it, really wanted him gone - about six houses in every direction, just wiped off the map, several dozen people, just dead. But I know from bombs and I get in some of my chem. gear to look it over, like lots of other scavengers were doing, and I can tell it was set at his place. Whoever set it, they knew what they were doing, professional hit, but major overkill. It had one of those fancy triggers, geared to his comm. link, so he tries to make a call and... " He made an explosive sound with his lips, gesturing to show a huge explosion. "I found part of the detonator. Only a few people in all of Lagos can set them up right, and it wasn't me and it wasn't you. I got a deal with Davos, he wouldn't hit one of my friends without letting me know, professional courtesy. Besides, he's in Spain just now, on a job. So that leaves Peaceful and Jackass. Peaceful hates Timipre, never mind why, she'd do him for a can of spit, just for giggles, if she knew where he lives. Jackass, he's new in town and I don't know much about him. White guy, troll, and he's gotten into some things with the Igbo, steady work from all I hear, if you like that sort of thing." Duante's lips twisted in disgust. "The Good Daughters' Society?" Duante nodded. A terrorist faction of the Igbo had taken to maiming and disabling any Igbo women who tried to leave her family, as an example. Before Valkris could say again what she'd do to them if she got a chance, Duante continued, "So I'm feeling a little nervous even though my mask blocks out anyone seeing me, and I head home, but careful, making sure nobody is following me. I didn't see anyone and I'm about to open my door when something makes me trigger a drone inside, but from a distance, since I'm nervous, and the whole place goes up, just like that. Not as big a mess as at Timipre's, but my place is sturdier, so the force goes up mostly, you know? So I start thinking about where I could hide out, but if they know about my place, they might know about my safe house since Timipre and I shared it, and I think that you'd put me up, but I don't want to call you in case they are monitoring things, matrix-side. Pretty sure they are, since they must have tracked me through Timipre’s call." Valkriss had grown more serious, listening to Duante's story. "If someone trapped your place, won't they know about mine?" Duante jerked his head back. "You're right. Sorry V. I'm not thinking straight." He ran trembling fingers over his scar. "I went through Surulere, to shake off any spirits following me. What a laugh and a half. I'll find some where else to lay low and maybe head out of town. Ekwueme owes me some favors. You got any cash I could have?" Valkriss softened. “You can have every naira I own; you know that Du. But I’ve got a better idea. I think I can get my team to help out. How do you feel about hanging out on a ship with a bunch of pirate wannabes?” The job: Protect Duante and catch his hunters The offer: Valkriss is offering 5000 nuyen/team member, negotiable. She’s only got 18000 ready cash, but she’d dig into the drone insurance account to save Duante if needed. So she could go as high as 12000. If you keep the money low, she'll owe everyone a favor.